212 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



It is only known from Dr. Abbott's reference. 

 Cypselurus fercatus Abbott, Geol. N. J., 1868, p. 815. 



Sub-Order PERCESOCES. 



The Perch Pike Fishes. 

 Key to the famihes. 



y 



a. Lateral line wanting; teeth small or wanting. 



b. Carnivorous; body and head elongate; stomach not gizzard-like. 



ATHERINID^" 



bb. Eating mud and vegetation ; head short and broad ; stomach gizzard- 

 like with long intestines. mugilid^; 

 aa. Lateral line present; teeth strong, unequal; head long and pointed. 



i 



SPHYR^NID^. 



Family ATHERINID^. 



The Silversides. 



Body rather elongate, somewhat compressed. Cleft of mouth 

 moderate. Teeth small, on jaws and sometimes on vomer and 

 palatines, rarely wanting. Premaxillaries protractile or not. 

 Opercular bones without spines or serrature. Gill-openings wide. 

 Gill-membranes not connected, free from isthmus. Gills 4, a slit 

 behind fourth. Gill-rakers usually long and slender. Pseudo- 

 branchiae present. Branchiostegals 5 or 6. Third and fourth 

 superior pharyngeals co-ossified, with teeth. Air-vessel present. 

 No pyloric coeca. Vertebrae numerous, usually about 23+23=46. 

 Body covered with scales of moderate or small size, which are 

 usually, but not always, cycloid. No lateral line, some scales 

 often with rudimentary mucous tubes. Dorsal fins 2, well sepa- 

 rated, first of III to VIII slender flexible spines, second of soft 

 rays. Anal with a weak spine, similar to soft dorsal, but usually 

 larger. Pectorals moderate, inserted high. Ventrals small, ab- 

 dominal, not far back, of I small spine and 5 soft rays. 



Carnivorous fishes, mostly small, living in great schools near 

 the shore of temperate and tropical seas, a few in fresh-water. 

 All have a silvery band along the sides, sometimes underlaid by 



